The present invention relates to automatic washers and more particularly, to horizontal axis automatic washers having a rotatable basket having asymmetrical door flaps cooperating with a front angled enclosure access opening.
Typically, horizontal axis automatic washers employ either a front loading or a top loading configuration for receiving clothes items to be washed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,980 to Marple, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, shows a typical front loading horizontal washer wherein the horizontal wash basket is accessed through one of the vertical end walls of the horizontal basket and the front surface of the washer enclosure.
The preference of many consumers, however, particularly those in the U.S., is for top loading washers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,862,712 to Huttemann and No. 3,908,412 to de Hedouville, show typical horizontal axis washers having a top loading horizontal axis basket.
Existing top loading horizontal axis washers, however, have some drawbacks. In the typical top-loading horizontal washer, clothes items must be raised to the level of the top surface of the washer in order to be loaded into the basket. Further, as shown by both Hutteman and de Hedouville, a relatively small opening in the basket is provided for accessing the interior of the basket. The typical basket opening in a top loading horizontal washer has a basket opening extending substantially less that 90.degree.. Additionally, as shown in both of the above cited references, the basket door of the typical top loading horizontal axis washer consists of two door flaps. These door flaps, when in their open position, extend upwardly and require a lengthy tub access conduit so that they do not extend above the top surface of the washer and impede access into the wash basket. Further, to close these door flaps from an open position, both door flaps must be urged downwardly at the same time requiring two hands for operation.
These and other drawbacks, increase the difficulty of accessing the interior or the wash basket for loading and unloading clothes. There exist, therefore, a need for a top loading horizontal axis washer having improved interior wash basket accessibility.
There are some example in the prior art of washers having alternate designs for providing interior basket accessibility. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,320 shows a washer having a diagonal axis wash basket providing wash basket access on an angled front cabinet surface. U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,038 discloses a horizontal axis washer having a front curved surface and a front curved door for accessing a horizontal basket which also has a front curved shell-type door covering an opening in the rotatable basket.
None of these references, however, truly provide a top loading horizontal washer with easy accessibility into the wash basket. Thus it is apparent that a new type of top loading horizontal washer is desirable to overcome the short-comings of the prior art.